Somewhere Warm and Gentle
by redweasleygirl
Summary: Caroline Forbes fled class restrictions and betrayal to forge a life for herself in the big city. However, all work and no play have resulted in life altering consequences for her health and happiness. Apathetic and alone, she is brought back to her childhood home where she faces deeply rooted familial issues that urge her to find comfort somewhere warm and gentle. Klaroline.
1. Chapter 1

She could feel a steady stream of warm tears falling, as she turned her head on the pillow of the hard hospital bed. There were no painful sobs or other strong emotional responses from her body, just the steady and quiet fall of tears that matched her severe apathy and depression. She was beyond counting tiles, beyond absorption of hospital television, beyond mustering effort to make small talk with the nurses. Such efforts would imply a schedule to her life, a succession of steps that would take her from this hospital bed to her desired location in life.

There was none of that.

Caroline Forbes had admitted defeat somewhere between that fateful work day and her diagnosis. The life that she had carved out for herself and which she had so neatly compartmentalised, had fallen like a line of dominos. The structures of support in the life she had made, had proven to be all for show. Her 'best' friends and 'work' family had not been there for her in any meaningful way, sending flowers and a card that she knew had been signed by her personal assistant to give the impression of varied signatures.

The apathy was a relief in some respects. It numbed her mind and stopped her from obsessing over such minor things that could have festered in her thoughts for days afterwards. It also stopped her from thinking about the consequences of her lifestyle and what it had done to her body.

As she continued to stare at the ceiling, she was dimly aware of the door opening and of several shuffling footsteps approaching her bed. Roughened and calloused fingers gently caressed her fingers and with a lethargic turn of her neck she saw her father gently smiling down at her. Gingerly picking up her hand, he held her cerulean gaze that so matched his own.

The gentleness and warmth of his embrace crept slowly into her apathy, softly shining in her depressed state. It felt good, the gentle touch and she purposefully blinked and cleared her vision. She beheld her father and was surprised that she was happy to see him. She was surprised that she was _surprised_. Shifting her gaze, she saw her mother standing nervously in the lee of her father's shadow, the smallest of small smiles tentatively lifting up one side of her lined mouth. Caroline considered her and knew what it had taken for them to leave their home and come here. She returned the gesture in kind and shifted her gaze back to her father who moved to stroke her limp hair away from her pale forehead.

'I think it's time for you to come back home Caroline,' he said in that rich voice which always sounded indulgent and calming to her. He glanced back to his wife who still stood back from them, awkwardly unsure of her welcome. 'I, well _we_, want you to come home Caroline...we love you sweetie, we just...well you have a home with us if you want it honey,' he said gently.


	2. Chapter 2

Caroline found particular comfort in Stephen Forbes' library.

The antique bowed window seat was covered in faded, overstuffed cushions that were well worn with housing avid readers. It was a small, cosy room with a statement fireplace that cast a glow on the richly embossed leather-bound titles, which had been her closest and safest friends since she had learned to toddle. The weighty tomes were not capable of avarice or of beguiling her into false friendships; they were trusted friends that were always there for a lonely and awkward young girl who did not trust her own feet.

Tales of adventure, of lost love found and particularly of the protagonist who overcame adversity by simply holding true to themselves were the bricks and mortar of Caroline Forbes dreams and wishes.

The Forbes family were the latest generation of one of numerous families which populated the wealthy countryside of rural Yorkshire, although the Forbes were known more for their yeomen and community standing rather than the financial wealth of the Michaelson's. Caroline had grown up attending the local school alongside the village children and had been reasonably happy, although she was aware from an early age that she sometimes received odd looks from the parents who came to collect their children after school had ended, their eyes lingering on her curling blonde locks and piercing blue eyes with blatant curiosity. The young Caroline had never bothered too much for that however, glad of the company of her own thoughts and feelings most of the time.

'At least that much hasn't changed,' the grown Caroline whispered to the cold glass of the bow window mirror. She was curled up in the library, her favourite childhood book placed gingerly in her lap. The rich leather of 'One Thousand and One Nights' gave her tired soul and body a brief respite from reality, sailing way on flying carpets to a land where generational secrets and gossip could not ruin innocent lives.

Her head was dully pounding, aching from the reduction in her pain relief medication. The fire was providing wonderful warmth however, which she was angling her sore body towards with honest enjoyment. Her brief moment of solitude was cut short, however when her mother, Liz, crept into the room, almost as if afraid of the reception she would receive from her only child.

'Caroline? Are you awake? Can I make you some food sweeth- erm...' she stumbled at the endearment, struggling to refrain despite Caroline's wishes to avoid using sentimental titles.

There was too much hurt on both sides for it at the moment.

Caroline took a moment to assess Liz's appearance. Heartache had been a little unkind to her, but she was still an attractive woman. If Caroline squinted her eyes she might be looking at an older version of herself. A lifetime of healthy and physical living had left her mother with a strong and lithe physique; slightly weathered skin and a naturally intelligent glean in her pale green eyes. Her straight-as-a-blade blonde hair was only slightly streaked with flattering silver and fell to her shoulders in a slinky cut.

'I probably wouldn't look as good as she does at her age' she thought ruefully to herself in a moment of honesty. Her occupation and work-ethic would have made her a burnout long before she reached Liz's age.

'I'm alright Mother, I wouldn't mind a cup of tea if you are making some, I hope you remember the way I like it' she said, swiftly conjuring then banishing the image of piercing blue/gray eyes that gleaned in amusement at the intricate way she made her favourite hot drink.

At this, Liz smiled in genuine camaraderie with her daughter and was confident in her ability to stew and brew with the right amount of hot and cold water that made the drink palatable for Caroline. Her enjoyment in brewing was marred, however by the thought of how to tell Caroline of her earlier encounter, when out in the village, with one Rebekah Michaelson.


	3. Chapter 3

**August 2002**

**City Offices, 4.30am**

This city was alive at all hours, a strange combination of late night revellers juxtaposed against early financiers and asset managers who worked 18+ hour days. The tube was mixed with sleepy party goers on their way home and dozing city workers in their suits and power dresses, one hand clutched tightly to their palm pilot and the other holding a precariously balanced cup of coffee.

The bright eyed blonde did not fall into either of these camps, as she was already hard at work at her desk. Stocks, algorithms and online news subscriptions were spread over her three monitors. Her glasses were perched on her slim nose and her clever eyes were racing across multiple pages, multiple screens and multiple formats of information. The steady ache of her perched back was a distant thought, as were the hunger pangs and the headache from too much caffeine.

_I'm twenty-two. I think I will survive a few late nights. _

She worked steadily through the day, her mind blessedly numb to thoughts of parental betrayal, devastating family secrets and curly blonde hair that her fingers loved to rake through.

'Caroline! Wow do you know what time it is? You are either really early or really late,' a colleague shouted out to her.

Distractedly, she turned to look at her questioner and saw one of her floor's administrative personnel looking at her askance.

_Timmy...Tammy...Toni?!..._

'Um...does it really matter...Toni?' she ventured a guess, smiling in relief when the girl did not immediately respond with a fierce denial of that given nomenclature. She glanced at the girls twitching hand and saw a letter in her hand. The sight of the cream-coloured, heavy paper was enough to shock her out of her obsessive work mode.

'Yeah well...you've got a letter here. Says it's from Yorkshire but only to be opened by you. Thought you should know,' she said handing Caroline the letter.

Caroline took the letter gingerly, which even holding at arm's length gave off the faint scent of personalised paper and ink that she knew so well. Thoughts of running swiftly away last year entered her head, running from love and family and hope.

Already knowing that she was done for the day, she rose from her crouched position and was surprised at the gentle smile of her conversationalist.

'You should go and get some rest Caroline, you work too hard,' she said before turning back to her own work place, but not before turning back and saying in a wry tone 'and by the way, by name is Tilly!'

Caroline stared blankly at the girls swiftly departing figure, looking automatically outside to see the darkened skies of London. She did not know if it was early morning or late at night. She mutely looked at the letter and tossed it over her desk towards the bin that she knew was behind it.

If she had looked back she would have seen that instead, it got caught under the leg of her desk, shielded by moving drawer cabinets.

**Current Day**

**Michaelson Manor **

Klaus stretched with satisfaction at finally having removed the last of Michael's things out of the study. The gauche desk had been moved to make way for the traditional piece which they had so recently restored from the fortuitous find in the west wing attics. He knew that it was rude to speak ill of the dead, but the Michaelson patriarch truly did have very little taste.

He moved about the manor with an easy, loping grace which was augmented by the knowledge that he now owned every brick and stone.

_Looks like the little 'art project' actually did have premise. _

He smiled to hear the happy thoughts of his young brothers as they made their way in from romping about on the estate. Kol might be a legal adult but he never failed to give Henrik time and energy for whatever he wanted to do. The victoriously fought for vitality, which the youngest Michaelson sibling was currently exhibiting was a miraculous gift to each and every family member.

_Anything for that smile. _

And it had cost him...everything.

His mind tried and failed to avoid conjuring his ultimate heart's treasure, that familiar stabbing ache appearing in his heart and his head.

The pain never ceased or ebbed.

But Henrik's smiles and health tempered it somewhat.

He walked through the ancestral halls and smiled at the blonde haired objects of portraits that gazed haughtily at him. It was not until he passed his mother's sitting room that he felt a strange fluttering, warm and gentling, that took him a while to place.

In excited whispers he heard his sister whispering to Esther.

'Mother, she's back. I met Liz this afternoon and she told me that she had brought Caroline home! Can you believe it...?'

The rest of her speech was drowned out as he stumbled back in shock.

It was only later that he would place that strange warm flutter as _hope_.


End file.
